Lifeboat Distribution

Lifeboat Distribution
Public
Traded as NASDAQ: WSTG
Industry Software distribution
Headquarters Shrewsbury, New Jersey, USA
Number of locations
 3
Area served
 Worldwide
Products Computer Software, Information Technology
Revenue Increase $217.3 million (2012)[1]
Number of employees
 120 [1]
Website

lifeboatdistribution.com lifeboatdistribution.ca

lifeboatdistribution.eu

Lifeboat Distribution is a multinational software distributor based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey and has locations in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and Almere near Amsterdam, Netherlands.[2] The company has its roots in Lifeboat Associates, a company founded in 1976[3] by Larry Alkoff and Tony Gold.[4] Lifeboat today is an international specialty software distributor for virtualization/cloud computing, security, application and network infrastructure, business continuity/disaster recovery, database infrastructure and management, application lifecycle management, science/engineering, and other technically sophisticated products. The company has a worldwide network of solution providers, VARs, systems integrators, corporate resellers, and consultants, and helps them drive business opportunities, expand their services revenues, and build profitable product and service businesses.[5]

Lifeboat Distribution is a subsidiary of Wayside Technology Group (NASDAQ: WSTG). Total sales for Lifeboat Distribution in 2012 were $217.3 million compared to $192.7 million in 2011, representing a 13% increase.[1]

Lifeboat Distribution represents over 300 software vendors worldwide, and works with over 7,000 resellers/solution providers in more than 120 countries. Lifeboat distributes software from leading publishers including Unitrends, Acronis, Corel, DataCore Software, Datawatch, Flexera Software (publishers of InstallShield), GFI Software, Infragistics, Intel Software, MindJet, Oracle Corporation/MySQL, Quest Software, SAP BusinessObjects, SolarWinds, Sophos, StorageCraft, TechSmith, and Veeam.

History

Early Years

Main article: Lifeboat Associates

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Lifeboat Associates, a New York City Company, was one of the largest microcomputer software distributors. Lifeboat acted as an independent software broker marketing software to major hardware vendors such as Xerox, HP and Altos. As such Lifeboat Associates was instrumental in the founding of Autodesk[6] and also financed the creation of PC Magazine.

By mid-1981 the company had offices in England, Switzerland, France, Germany, Japan and Oakland, California.[7] In an August 1983 article titled "Does corporate America need CP/M?," InfoWorld said that the company was the largest publisher of microcomputer software in the world.[8] Lifeboat Associates successfully combined many roles, including publisher and distributor, and actively solicited authors for software products that met its standards.[9][10]

The company distributed T/Maker (written by Peter Roizen), one of the first spreadsheet programs designed for the personal computer user, which went a step beyond the similar VisiCalc program by offering text-processing capability.,[11] and The Boss Financial Accounting System (written by John Burns), a $2495 package for CP/M users. It was one of the first accounting programs for micro-computers.[12][13] In addition Lifeboat Associates started collecting and distributing user-written "free" software, initially for the CP/M operating system.[14] One of the first was XMODEM, which allowed reliable communication via modem and phone line.

In June 1986, Lifeboat Associates was acquired by Voyager Software Corp. By 1988, Voyager was a three-division company; Lifeboat was the software distributor, Corsoft the corporate reseller, and Programmer's Paradise a mail-order operation.[15]

The 1990s and 2000s

In May 1995, Voyager Software Corp changed its name to Programmer's Paradise, Inc. and at that time, changed Lifeboat Associates' name to Lifeboat Distribution. In July 1995, Programmer's Paradise completed an initial public offering of its common stock.[3]

On January 9, 2001, Lifeboat's European operations were sold along with all other Programmer's Paradise Eruopean operations to PC-Ware (now known as the Comparex Group).[16]

Through the 2000s, Lifeboat expanded its vendor line card with established and emerging vendors such as InstallShield[17] (later to become Flexera Software), Intel Software,[18] TechSmith,[19] GFI,[20] and VMware.

Lifeboat developed a reputation for helping companies enter the two-tier (vendor-distributor-reseller) distribution model. For example, Lifeboat was VMware's first U.S. software distributor helping introduce that company’s nascent virtualization software to the channel.[21]

In 2004, Lifeboat Distribution was appointed as Intel's Software Authorized Distributor in order to make that company's internally developed high performance software development tools available to customers worldwide.[18]

Present Day

Lifeboat specializes in sophisticated technology domains that include not only virtualization/cloud computing, but also security, application and network infrastructure, database modeling, application lifecycle management, and business productivity. For each of these technology domains, the company has created “world views” [22] into which Lifeboat has arranged its best-of-breed vendor products. The world views are organized to support resellers’ needs for groupings of products to meet their customer technology needs.

More recently, Lifeboat added companies like Veeam Software,[23] SolarWinds,[24] Acronis, and StorageCraft[25] to its line card. The company now represents an extensive set of software for the now mainstream virtualization space – products that are marketed to resellers through Lifeboat’s Virtulization World View portfolio.[26]

In 2010, Lifeboat opened an office in Almere, Netherlands in order to better serve the company’s European resellers.[27]

Today Lifeboat’s value-proposition revolves around software, backed-up by "extraordinary customer service" provided to reseller and vendor partners.

Lifeboat competes against much larger “broad line” distributors and must provide service differentiators to both its software vendors and its reseller customers. One way it has done this is through the deployment of innovative technologies,such as an electronic license key stocking system, EDI–based (Electronic Data Interchange) order processing, and data warehousing systems.[28]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Wayside Technology Group 2012 Annual Report" (PDF).
  2. ↑ "Lifeboat Opens European Office" (PDF).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Programmers Paradise Inc., Form 10-K, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1996
  4. ↑ Lifeboat Associates Rescues Alien Hardware, Intelligent Machines Journal, December 11, 1978
  5. ↑ http://www.veeam.com/news/veeam-software-partners-with-lifeboat-distribution.html
  6. ↑ Walker, John. (February, 1994). "The Autodesk File". Fourmi Lab. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  7. ↑ Lifeboat Launches Offices in CA, Japan, InfoWorld, May 25, 1981
  8. ↑ Does corporate America need CP/M?, InfoWorld, August 15, 1983
  9. ↑ A New Factor in Software Distribution, Computerworld, Sep 27, 1982
  10. ↑ As an author this might be your most important line., Lifeboat Associates advertisement, InfoWorld, Feb 1, 1982
  11. ↑ Lifeboat Distributes T/MAKER, InfoWorld, Nov 10, 1980
  12. ↑ InfoNews/Software, InfoWorld, Sept 14, 1981
  13. ↑ Computerize your bookkeeping without terrifying your bookkeeper., Lifeboat Associates advertisement, InfoWorld, Oct 5, 1981
  14. ↑ "The Birth of PC Software". pc-history.org. 2008. Retrieved 11 September 2011. One company Lifeboat Associates made a big business out of providing application software versions that ran under CP/M in almost any type of 8080 or Z-80 computer.
  15. ↑ (2006). "Programmer's Paradise Inc.". Reference for Business. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  16. ↑ http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/945983/000089457902000025/ppi10k-0321.txt, Programmer's Paradise Form 10-K, for fiscal year ended December 31, 2001
  17. ↑ (2001-12-21). "Programmer's Paradise Announces Distribution Agreement With InstallShield". Business Wire. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Willet, Bill. (2004-02-23). "Lifeboat Distribution is Appointed Intel's Software Authorized Distributor". Business Wire. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  19. ↑ (2003-01-14). "Programmer's Paradise Announces Distribution Agreement With TechSmith Corporation". Business Wire. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  20. ↑ "GFI Software Chrstens Lifeboat as its Channel Distributor". The Free Library. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  21. ↑ Clancy, Heather. (2007-02-20). "Lifeboat's Ship about to Sail?". CRN. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  22. ↑ "Worldview Software Ecosystems". Lifeboat Distribution. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  23. ↑ Marshall, David. (2007-12-03). "Veeam Software Partners With Lifeboat Distribution". VMblog. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  24. ↑ O'Hanlon, Charlene. (2009-01-13). "SolarWinds Re-Ups Its Channel Commitment". Channel Insider. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  25. ↑ Goulding, Laura. (2007-02-20). "StorageCraft Partners with Lifeboat Distribution". Storagecraft Press Release. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  26. ↑ "Virtualization World View Products". Lifeboat Distribution. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  27. ↑ (2012-03-07). "Amsterdam Area welcomes Lifeboat Distribution". I amsterdam. Retrieved 2013-08-27
  28. ↑ Thakkar, Pooja. (2010). "Navigating Distribution Channels Within The Software Solutions Market". Technology Digital. Retrieved 2013-08-27

External links